The Panthers’ team options
As we all know, the Carolina Panthers took Cam Newton in the first round of the draft, only 2 years removed from drafting Jimmy Clausen.
Does this mean Clausen is a bust?
Well not yet anyway, although his career QB rating of 58.4 and 3 touchdowns to 9 interceptions isn’t that confidence inspiring. However he hasn’t really had the chance to be 100% the starting QB. He has either started the season No.2 or had Matt Moore breathing down his neck.
Now with the introduction of Cam Newton, I think it is quite clear the Clausen experiment has been shelved. Although it is a little early (anyone remember Drew Brees?), it seems that the new coaching staff have little to no confidence in Clausen’s ability as the franchise QB going forward. Granted Brees was never quite as bad as Clausen but he did have a QB rating of 67.5 in his third season. Then went 104.8 in his next, then 89.2 before heading off to New Orleans.
Now I am in no way suggesting that Jimmy Clausen is the next Drew Brees but it would be nice to at least give him a couple of years of being the starting QB. However unfortunately for him, he joined a team that is in limbo. Should they rebuild or should they try to contend?
- In Stewart and Williams (I’ll go out on a limb and guess they’ll resign Williams who is an unrestricted free agent) they have without doubt the best 1,2 RB combination in the league, which makes them a formidable running team.
- In Gross and Otah they have a good pair of tackles and Ryan Kalil is one of the better Centres in the NFL.
- Steve Smith is still a very good WR
- Jeremy Shockey is still a productive TE
- Jon Beason is a phenom, second probably only to Patrick Willis in his natural and physical talents.
They have a slight weakness in the secondary but other than that they have the platform for a good team.
Anyway, I’m breaking off from the main point here which is Newton and Clausen.
I have a feeling we may see some trickery with Newton in his first season. I have almost no doubt that Clausen will start the season as the main QB, but Newton will switch in now and then. We might see a sort of option offence at times from the Panthers, with Newton’s physical size and speed paired with either Williams or Stewart or both. A system that will keep opposing defences on their toes. And with Steve Smith and Shockey it will give Rob Chudzinski some serious ability to play.
The Panthers should be an exciting team to watch this year.
If not then I hope at least that Rivera and Chudzinski do what Fox should have done most of the time, and put the ball in Williams and Stewart’s hands and run the life out of teams. That is how the Panthers are going to be successful, by playing to their biggest strength. They are a team built to run, so why didn’t Fox run?
The jury is still out on the Panthers, and even more so now with the addition of Newton and his questionable mechanics and general passing game.
Let’s see what happens.
Content courtesy of J_Dogg